More and more registries allow the registration of domain names with local
language characters such as German umlaut characters (»ä«, »ö«, and »ü«).
These domain names are called »Internationalized Domain Names« (IDN).

»i18n« is an abbreviation for »internationalization«. Some lazy technicians
came up with this short form because they didn't want to type the long word
all the time. So only the first and the last character remained while the
number »18« replaces the 18 characters omitted in the middle.

Die grünen Äpfel = the green apples

Ready for take off

With IDN it is possible to register domain names with, for example,
german umlaut characters. Besides
.de domain names,
local language characters can be used in
.com,
.net,
.org,
.info and
.biz domain names.

It's understood that with Knipp you are in the front line from the very
beginning. And what is best of all: at Knipp, the prices for domains with
special characters are not higher than those for the registration of
conventional domain names.

Further top level domains will follow. However, for most top level
domains, no binding time schedule has been announced yet. You can find more
information on the status of internationalization for various top level domains
in our overview.

First come, first served

It is common practice that the assignment of domain names follows
a scheme that privileges early requests.

We have therefore provided our customers with preregistration systems
in good time before the introduction of new characters, in which they could
place their domain requests free of charge.
Punctually with the beginning of the online registration, we have
sent the requests in our queue to the registry and have thereby
increased the chances for an assignment of these domains.
This is a service that we will offer our customers in the future, too,
when further character-set expansions take place.